Day 9

Day 9 Wednesday 7th July
I am typing this blog on Word as we travel on the fast train across the 'calf' of Italy. Last night while relaxing in a street restaurant, eating pasta with salad and drinking two bottles of Peroni beer, I couldn't help thinking to myself, "It just doesn't get any better than this." Cheers burst out from inside as Spain and Germany battle it out in the semi of the soccer World Cup. Another late tea after a big day out!

The day began with a brisk one kilometre walk to the peak of Mount Vesuvius. We were given hiking sticks to assist us with the slope on the shifting volcanic gravel.
Vesuvius is still considered active and small puffs of steam rose up the inside of the cone while clouds crept down in the opposite direction. The last eruption was in 1944 and the blast blew out the entire cone centre.

Pompei was a much larger city than we imagined and it took us hours to explore the ruins. It might have been built over 2000 years ago but the locals enjoyed a remarkably comfortable lifestyle. Fresh running water provided by the aqueducts, ancient ' fast food' stores, lavish baths and ducted heating throughout the house! Not to mention the beautiful theatres and the open municipal squares!

Highlights:
* the climb up to Vesuvius
*the bus driver stopping to pick figs from trees without leaving his cabin.
*walking the cobblestone (huge stones at that!) streets of Pompei.
*the plaster casts of bodies with bones still inside
*the wall murals and decorative architecture
*the gnocchi, linguine and large bowl of olives given to Debbie by the funny waiter
*meeting Neville Anderson's Italian double (or was it really Neville moonlighting as a waiter on the holidays?)

Day 8

On our long coastal walk back to Naples

Naples - Tuesday 6th July.
Caught the fast train to Naples. The cheap hotel is nicely presented and very clean. It's ceratinly right in the thick of things and it has a balcony that looks over the busy street.

When you get out of the rat race, Naples is a beautiful place. We caught a bus to the top of a hilly coastal area called Posillipo and walked all the way back - another few kms chalked up!!! The view across the sea to Mount Vesuvius was stunning!

Highlights:

* fast train from Rome to naples
* another massive pizza
* amazing views across the water to Naples and Vesuvius
* coastal walk back to Naples.

Day 7

ROMA Monday 5th July

Set off on public transport (busses and trains) to visit the Roman Callisto Catacombs. The catacombs are four levels deep and the labyrinths run for 20 ks. Half a million souls were laid to rest between the 1st and 9th centuries. Needless to say, the catacombs provided a welcome relief from the heat! The barbarians had disrupted many of the remains and and taken artefacts around the 9th century, however we were able to view a number of things of interest that escaped the pillaging. This included the tomb of Cecilia (see picture above) and two open sacophaguses. Looking into these, you could see a dried mass, bones and hair - no photos allowed.

Highlights:

*Callisto Catacombs
*Finding our way on the Met system
*Going to Ostia Antica in the afternoon - ancient
ruins. We could only look through the fence as it is
closed on Mondays.
*Setting foot in the Mediterannean as Casel Fusano

*Booking a room in Naples for 50 Euro a night!

Day 6

Day 6 ROME - Sunday 4th July

An hour's walk took us to the opulent Borghese Museum and Gallery. No bags..no cameras..no nothing!! But this gave you the rare opportunity to stand 'up close' to famous sculptures and paintings. For example, Titian's painting 'Sacred and Profane Love' (worth more then $14 million dollars) was less than an arm's length away! Paintings by Rubens, Raphael and Caravaggio decorated the elaborate halls and small rooms. Large sculptures by Bernini, Cavone and others add to the grandeur.

Other highlights:
*A pleasant stroll through the adjoining park

*The FIFA outdoor staduim for Romans to
watch th soccer on the big screen.

Lake in Borghese park.

Photos on this page:
*"Pauline Bonaparte" - Antonio Canova *"Sacred and Profane Love" - Titian
*Borghese Museum
*Debbie queing up
*Lake in the park
*"Apollo and Daphne" -Bernini
*"David with the Head of Goliath" -
Caravaggio

*The FIFA soccer big screen

Day 5

Day 5 Rome

-Saturday 3rd July

La Traviata - Opera

A bit of culture tonight - La Traviata at a basilica in central Roma. A wonderful musical experience in spite of our failure to recognise more than a couple of words!

This morning we had fun crossing the language barrier in a small street market where we bought some cheese, salami, rolls and salad for lunch. The budget has blown out a bit so we needed to eat cheaply.
This afternoon we took a cruise up the Tiber which provided a different perspective on Rome. It was hot, but the bridges were beautiful.

Highlights:

Napoli market

Cruise along the Tiber River.

La Traviata - I have to confess to some spine tingling moments as the big voices belted out big notes with a full chorus and the rousing timpanis. Those opratic conductors are a mystery to me though (this one looked like Woody Allan for a start) as their arm movements often seem to bear no resemblance to the muisc. As an ex -drummer,I find this disturbing. It's a bit like watching a foreign language SBS movie where the lips are out of sync with the words.

Day 4

Day 4 Rome - Friday 2nd July

Yet another walking day! We expored more amazing churches and came across some ancient aquaducts which dated back to 40BC. After a restful afternoon, we took a balmy night time ride on the open upper deck of a double decker bus. The two hour trip took us to all of the places we had walked to during our day explorations.

Highlights:

The Santa Maria Maggiore basilica

The San Giovanni in Laterio

The Porta Maggiore aquaducts

The night time double decker bus tour

Day 3

Day 3 Rome -Thursday 1st July
Day 3 will from hereon be declared "Walking Day". We set off at 8.00am and got back to the hotel at 7.00pm. Needless to say, after 11 hours our feet were aching!! We trekked to The Vatican via the Tiber River. We saw as much of The Vatican as you could possibly see in one day. You can't help but be awestruck and overwhelmed by the grandeur and scale of the religious artworks and architecture.
Highlights:

Tiber River

Exclusive clothing shops (this comes from Debbie only)

The Vatican

St Peter's Basilica

Piazza Navona

The Pantheon

Sistine Chapel

Eating a huge pizza

Happening on an anti-government demonstration

Puuting our feet up at the end of the day!!!!!